From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V9 #70 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Sunday, April 29 2007 Volume 09 : Number 070 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] B.I.T.U.S.A [] [RS] Midtown Scholar Show setlist, Harrisburg, PA [] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:29:53 -0400 From: Subject: [RS] B.I.T.U.S.A > The other cuts are growing on me too, and I love the transformation of > Born in The USA. > I love my Bruce very well, but dang that was a bombastic period he went > through back then when "Born" first came out. Me no likkee. > I like Richard's. > So, does no one have any thoughts or comparisons on the Richard version versus either the alternate version, or the solo acoustic (sometimes bottleneck) versions Springsteen does? Richard's is certainly different from the BITUSA version that we typically hear (and yeah, that's my least favorite album of his, incidentally) and obviously the SOD version is distinctly Richard's, but I keep getting the feeling folks think he reinvented this song. Uh, he didn't! Definitely his own stamp on the song, but it's not worlds apart from some of the versions Springsteen does live. - -jpc, somewhere near Talleyrand Park ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:53:46 -0400 From: Subject: [RS] Midtown Scholar Show setlist, Harrisburg, PA Sorry this is so late! Richard, Greg and Sara. Set one Fenario Che Guevara T-shirt (nice!) Kenworth of My Dreams Sittin' on Top of the World (very well-received) Mary Magdelene, on his new Oriskany bouzouki Fishing, my request. Uptempo version Lawrence Kansas ("We'lll play Sara's favorite.") Wisteria (request) So Says the Wipporwill (sp?) Set two A summer wind, a cotton Dress (request) Walden Well the Juggler Song Deportees (a bit ragged...) Waiting for the Storm (I thought he was going to do Shades of Grey by the opening flatpicking when he was noodling around with the intro) Reunion Hill Arrowhead (request from early in the evening) Are You Happy Now solo encore: Mavis All in all, a solid show but probably not in my top five. Everyone seemed a bit tired. The evening opened on a neat note for me, Richard had just purchased an f-hole bouzouki my friends -and excellent luthiers- Curtis and Johanna of Oriskany Stringed Instruments made. (www.oriskanyguitars.com) It was really neat for me, because I remember being in their shop when they were only at the point of drawing the F-holes... it hadn't even been started yet! Although I thought it was sort of odd that while Richard made reference about buying it, he didn't mention them or the company by name, or even really acknowledge they were in the audience. That seemed a bit weird. Sound system from where we sat was a bit muddy. Bass a bit too loud; Sara a bit too low. Highlights for me were a beautiful take on Lawrence Kansas; Reunion Hill, and it was a treat to hear Wisteria (still my favorite RS guitar intro) after not hearing it live for years, and Waiting for the Storm, which I have never heard live, even when he was touring to support SNP. (I know he did used to do it, we were just never in synch.) Minor quibble, because they performed seated and the stage is not real high, it was hard to see if you weren't either tall or in the first 4-5 rows. It's something we try to be aware of at Acoustic Brew and add risers when we need to. I like the trio format a lot. I wish the sound system had been clearer... like, say, at Godfrey Daniels. Or that I could have heard them in an unplugged show, although with the increased use of the T-5 I guess that really doesn't happen any more. And at the risk of irking some folks, I think Sara is a better, hmm, how do I say this.. harmony singer for Richard, than Lucy is. No letter bombs, please, I don't dislike Lucy at all - but I feel like what you get with them together is a Richard AND Lucy song, and that's okay - but Sara allows herself to be more in the background, accenting and adding to, what R. is doing. What I hear from Richard with Sara is a Richard song with a nice harmony added. Make sense? Richard's playing seemed as crisp as it typically is... he truly is a gifted player. I think sometimes that's overlooked because he favors substance over flash, but I just still get the feeling he could spank a whole lot of players if he really wanted to show off. And kudos to Midtown Scholar for bringing these songwriter-driven concerts in. Central PA is certainly not a hotbed for singer/songwriters, and they're helping fill in an important gap between the coffeehouses and ocassional house concert, and the bigger venues like the Whitaker and the State Theatre. It's great to see these shows selling out, or at worst being well-attended. Anyway, capsule synopsis, I like the trio format, I like the new songs, and catch one of the shows if you can! - -jim c. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 20:25:54 -0400 From: John McDonnell & Jamie Younghans Subject: [RS] FDL Hey All For those of you scared to see a post from me with that subject line--fear not, I'm just commenting. Em wrote: >> I shouldn't analyze. And you folks really have chopped this up quite well. I'm not sure there are concrete answers. Not sure there could be Cliffs Notes for "Fleur de Lis". It almost dimishes it, to analyze.<< Well, I had hoped that any analysis of the song didn't "chop it up" though I admit that I looked at the lines and the imagery in a piecemeal fashion. That approach, however, was a function of my incoherence, as opposed to an analytical approach. It certainly is not the kind of song that can be "reverse-engineered," though I still feel that an analysis of the song--whether by line or by individual image--can be fun and stimulating. I would welcome Cliff Notes for the song, quite frankly, since I still struggle with "a billion blue eggs of eternity."! John McD. ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V9 #70 **********************************